Shang Family Master's Past (Alliance Master Rewarded by Book Friend Starry Sky Inevitable)

"How did you figure out he was a painted-skin ghost?" Tao Yaoye asked the question Butler Zhang had taken to his grave without ever learning the answer.

Lu Yang cleaned up the aftermath of the fight, using a broom to sweep the painted-skin ghost's ashes into a small pile. Tao Yaoye dutifully took out a dustpan to collect them.

"It's simple. Just keep thinking about what the parrot said: 'Who are you, and where is Butler Zhang?'"

"After we met Shang Yuan, she deliberately drove us away, trying to keep us far from the Shang Household."

"That meant the current Butler Zhang was no longer the person Miss Shang knew—and he was extremely dangerous."

"There were three possibilities for how Butler Zhang's identity had been replaced."

"First, Butler Zhang had been possessed. But why would an old monster who'd possessed someone stay in the Shang Household for so long? If it were me, the first thing I'd do after possessing someone would be to leave Taiping Village and find a place with good feng shui to continue cultivating. Besides, Butler Zhang wasn't especially talented. Possessing the head of the Shang Household would've been better than possessing him." Lu Yang put himself in the other person's shoes.

"Second, someone had disguised himself as Butler Zhang. But that didn't make sense either. The Shang Household didn't have anything valuable, so why pretend to be a butler? Did he have a thing for serving people? Even if the Shang Household did have something valuable, couldn't he just rob them? With his Foundation Establishment Late Stage cultivation, he could crawl around Taiping Village and nobody would stop him."

"The third possibility is a painted-skin ghost. What painted-skin ghosts love most is collecting human skin and disguising themselves as people. They keep up the habit of pretending, living among humans."

Painted-skin ghosts had been human in life and became ghosts in death. They were one type of ghost cultivator. Most types of ghost cultivators suffered from some kind of psychological disorder.

Take painted-skin ghosts, for example. They were most afraid of people seeing through their identities. They would work hard to convince themselves they were human, speaking and acting just like humans. Once they grew tired of it, they would change their skin and begin a new life under a different identity, repeating the cycle over and over.

Lu Yang's reasoning was so thorough and convincing that Tao Yaoye looked at him with admiration. She could hardly see any trace of the timid Senior Brother Lu who had trembled aboard the flying boat.

She knew all the same things Lu Yang did, but she hadn't thought of as much in the moment. That was the difference in their sensitivity of thought.

"Save the ashes. They're proof we completed the mission." Lu Yang took out a white porcelain jar about two palms high and put all the painted-skin ghost's ashes inside.

The painted-skin ghost had been an extension of the mission, and could be considered part of it. Slaying it would surely earn them a greater reward than finding the parrot.

Footsteps sounded outside. They stopped at the doorway, as if several people had woken from their sleep and rushed to the east wing to check what was happening, but didn't dare enter.

It wasn't hard to guess who was outside. Lu Yang called out with a laugh, "Head of the Shang Household, come in. I've already slain the painted-skin ghost. It's safe in here."

With a bang, the head of the Shang Household pushed open the wooden door. Behind him stood his wife and daughter, along with the maids and servants—twelve people in all, every one of them looking relieved to have survived a calamity.

"Many thanks to the two Immortal Masters for stepping in, slaying the painted-skin ghost, and saving the lives of all twelve members of the Shang Household!" The head of the Shang Household dropped to his knees with a thump. Everyone behind him knelt as well.

The painted-skin ghost was unpredictable and capricious. Once it tired of being a butler, there was a good chance it would slaughter every last member of the Shang Household!

"What are you saying, Head of the Shang Household? It's our duty as disciples of Ask Dao Sect to slay demons, purge evil, and defend the righteous." Lu Yang had never seen such a grand display before and was startled. He hurriedly helped them up one by one.

"Please forgive us, Immortal Masters. The painted-skin ghost appeared and disappeared without a trace, and I don't know where it came from."

"Ever since the painted-skin ghost impersonated Butler Zhang, it hasn't let us leave the Shang Household. If anyone came to visit, we weren't allowed to tell them about it. If it found out, we'd be dead!"

At this, Shang Yuan also looked ashamed. She was a gentle young lady, and all the coldhearted things she'd done in her room had been an act, meant to keep Lu Yang and Tao Yaoye away from danger.

The head of the Shang Household continued, "It's a shame I retired to the countryside and exchanged all my cultivator's belongings for gold, silver, and jewels. They're of no use to you two, so I have no way to repay you. Is there anything you need? Even if I have to sell off my entire estate, I'll get it done." He wasn't just being polite; he genuinely wanted to repay them for saving his life.

To disciples of Ask Dao Sect, all his wealth was little better than scrap metal—worthless.

But Lu Yang did have something he wanted.

"I heard you decided to wash your hands of grave-robbing and leave the cultivation world after running into a deadly crisis and something terrifying while robbing a tomb. What happened back then?"

Tao Yaoye watched the head of the Shang Household with keen interest. Grave-robbing, a life-or-death crisis, something terrifying, washing one's hands of the trade—those words sounded like the beginning of a story, and perhaps even the promise of a great opportunity. Exploring mysterious places and the unknown was what she loved most.

Lu Yang wasn't as interested in exploring the unknown as Tao Yaoye was, but he did like hearing strange tales.

The head of the Shang Household's eyes twitched. Truthfully, deep down he didn't want to remember that terrifying past. But his saviors had asked, and he couldn't refuse to answer.

He sent everyone away, especially Shang Yuan, who had been trying to stay behind unnoticed, leaving only Lu Yang and Tao Yaoye.

"You mustn't tell anyone else what I'm about to say."

Lu Yang and Tao Yaoye nodded.

Only after receiving their assurance did the head of the Shang Household begin to recount what had happened twenty years ago.

"Thirty years ago, I, Shang Zhongtian, was already fairly well-known in the Qi Refining tomb-robbing world. I wouldn't say I was notorious, but I'd reached the point where everyone who saw me hated me." The head of the Shang Household planted his hands on his hips, reminiscing about his glorious golden years.

Lu Yang and Tao Yaoye couldn't quite understand why the head of the Shang Household, Shang Zhongtian, sounded so proud as he spoke about it.

What they didn't know was that people in the same trade were rivals. Tomb robbers competed with one another, too. If Shang Zhongtian had earned such a fine reputation, it naturally meant his skills were exceptional.

"I've always been careful when robbing tombs. I never touched the grand tombs or ancient tombs. Our line of work has a saying: 'Grand tombs have ghosts, ancient tombs have immortals.'"

The ghosts mentioned here weren't little Foundation Establishment Realm spirits like painted-skin ghosts, but powerful beings who ruled over the rest of the ghosts.

"Qi Refining cultivators are poor. They give anything valuable to their descendants, so what kind of burial goods could they possibly leave behind? I didn't touch Qi Refining cultivators' tombs. There was no profit in them."

"Foundation Establishment Realm and Golden Core cultivators have some wealth. When they die, they tend to leave most of it to their descendants and bury only a small portion with them. Even that small portion was enough to earn me a fortune."

"Unfortunately, you can't walk beside a river forever without getting your shoes wet. I was digging through a Golden Core tomb that one time. When I finally reached the end, I found out it was a tomb within a tomb. The Golden Core tomb was just a burial offering—the main tomb belonged to a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator!"

"According to the rules of our trade, you can't rob a tomb belonging to someone whose cultivation is too far above your own. But back then, joy had gone to my head. I thought that since I was at the peak of Qi Refining, and could run as fast as a Foundation Establishment cultivator, I was basically one myself, give or take. Grave-robbing wasn't fighting, after all. Surely there was no danger in digging up a Nascent Soul Realm tomb that had just fallen from the sky."

"So I burned incense to our founding patriarch and prayed for his blessing, then got to work digging up the Nascent Soul Realm tomb."

I still owe you another chapter for now.